45. From this description of divine love's essence, you can also see what the essence of diabolical love is like; it becomes visible by contrast.

Diabolical love is a love for oneself. This is called love, but seen in its own right it is really hatred. It does not love anyone outside itself. It does not want to form a partnership with others in order to bless them; it wants to bless only itself. From deep inside, it constantly strives to dominate all others and to own the good things they have.

Eventually it wants to be adored as God. This is why those who are in hell do not acknowledge God. Instead they acknowledge as gods those who have power over others. From hell's point of view, then, there are lower and higher gods, or lesser and greater gods, according to the reach of each one's power. Because all who are in hell carry love for themselves in their heart, they burn with hatred against their "god. "

The "gods" in turn burn with hatred against all who are under their thumb; they think of them as vile slaves. They manage to speak softly to them as long as their followers keep showing adoration. They openly rage against all others. Inwardly or at heart, they rage against their followers as well.

Love for oneself is the same love you see among thieves, who kiss each other when they are on a job together, but later each burn with a desire to kill the others and take their share.

In hell, love for oneself is the dominant force. It causes the people there and their selfish lusts to appear at a distance as various species of wild animal. Some people there look like foxes and leopards, some like wolves and tigers, some like crocodiles and venomous snakes. Their love for themselves also causes the deserts they live in to consist of mere piles of stones and bare gravel, with swamps here and there that contain croaking frogs. Over their huts fly miserable screeching birds. These animals and birds are the same as the owls, the wild beasts of the desert, and the jackals mentioned in the prophetical books of the Word in reference to the love of dominating that comes from love for oneself (Isaiah 13:21; Jeremiah 50:39; Psalms 74:14).

6073. 'What are your works?' means regarding duties and services. This is clear from the meaning of 'works' as forms of good, dealt with in 6048, thus useful services and duties, for these are forms of good. Every good that is called a good of charity consists in nothing other than useful service, and useful services are nothing other than works done for one's neighbour, country, Church, and the Lord's kingdom. Regarded essentially charity does not actually become charity until it passes into action and becomes a work; for loving someone but not doing anything good for him when the possibility exists is not really loving him. Doing good for him when the possibility exists, and doing it with all one's heart, is loving him; for then the actual deed or work contains all that constitutes charity towards him. For works embrace every aspect of charity and faith present with a person and are called forms of spiritual good, made such through the exercise of charity, that is, through useful services.

[2] Because the angels in heaven are governed by good received from the Lord, they have no greater desire than to perform useful services. These are the very delights of their life, and in the measure that they perform useful services they enjoy blessing and happiness, 453, 696, 997, 3645.

This is also the Lord's teaching in Matthew,

The Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father together with His angels, and at that time He will repay everyone according to his works. Matthew 16:17.

'Works' is not used here to mean works such as they are in outward appearance but such as they appear inwardly - that is to say, what kind of charity they hold within them. Angels do not look on works in any other way.

[3] Furthermore, since works are a combination of every aspect of charity and faith present with a person, and since life causes charity to be charity and faith to be faith, and so to be good, John was loved more than the other disciples by the Lord and leaned on His breast at the Last Supper, John 21:20. For that disciple represented the good deeds or works of charity, see the Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22. For the same reason the Lord said to him Follow Me; He did not say it to Peter, ¹ who represented faith, see those same Prefaces, and this led faith, which is Peter, to be indignant and say,

Lord, but what about this man? Jesus said to Him, If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You, follow Me. John 21:19, 11-23.

This was also a prediction that faith would come to despise works, even though the Lord associates Himself with them, as may also be seen quite clearly from the Lord's words addressed to the sheep and the goats at Matthew 25, where nothing else than works are listed in Verses Matthew 25:34-46. The fact that faith would disown the Lord is evident from the representation by Peter in his denial of Him three times, [Matthew 26:34.] His denial 'at night' means the final period of the Church when no charity would exist any longer, 6000; his denial 'three times' means that at that point the final period would be complete, 1825, 2788, 4495, 5159; and 'before the cock crowed' means before a new phase of the Church had arrived, for twilight and morning which follow night mean the first phase of a Church, 2405, 5962.

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